Saturday, May 29, 2010

The first domino falls?

Rep. Mark Kirk, a Navy reservist who was elected to Congress in 2001, acknowledged the error in his official biography after The Washington Post began looking into whether he had received the prestigious award, which is given by top Navy officials to a single individual annually.

snip

In a message on his blog, Kirk wrote that "upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified" and that the award he had intended to list was given to his unit, not to him individually.

Kirk was assigned to a unit based in Aviano, Italy, during the conflict. A professional group, the National Military Intelligence Association, gave the unit an award for outstanding service, according to a revised résumé posted on Kirk's Web site Saturday.

The association's Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award celebrates "the exceptional achievements of an outstanding Naval Intelligence career professional," but the citation in 2000 contains no mention of Kirk and instead designates the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing at Aviano.

Kirk, whose campaign has emphasized his military service as a reservist, similarly misstated the award during a House committee hearing in March 2002. In a remark recorded by C-Span, he said, "I was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year," an achievement he depicted as providing special qualifications to discuss national security spending.

That's a good start, but readers of this blog know there's more to look into:

"I came up with a number of recommendations that I gave to Gen. McChrystal," said Kirk, referring to the commander of military forces in Afghanistan. "We have a tremendous amount of combat power."

I find it odd that Gen. Stanley McChrystal--the four star general who had been in charge of the Afghanistan mission for six months by the time Kirk arrived for his second tour, would need the advice of an O-5 who'd been in the country for three weeks. So, what, exactly, did Kirk do in the country? Was he working as a Representative--which would explain his discussion with the general--or as a Navy commander, which wouldn't?

Now that it's clear Kirk has been puffing up his military résumé, will reporters begin to look into this string of tales?

Update:One more thing. His original bio read:

The Navy named Kirk “Intelligence Officer of the Year” in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo.

An official summary of Kirk's military service, released to The Post by the Navy last week, lists other awards and decorations, including two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medals, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award, a Navy Unit Commendation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and a National Defense Service medal.

It's possible they left it out, but that list doesn't include a Navy Combat Action Ribbon, which Kirk should have earned if he'd had "combat service."

Kirk was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his Kosovo service in 1999.

The phrase "combat service" is conspicuously absent.

Civilians (and/or Kirk fans) might think I'm nitpicking here, but there's a real difference between being in a combat zone and earning hazardous duty pay and actually being in combat. Just ask the family of Admiral Mike Boorda, who committed suicide when it was discovered he had been wearing a device which had designated him as serving in direct combat, though it didn't show up in his records. David Hackworth, the former soldier who wrote the story on Boorda, wrote this after the admiral's suicide.

I pursued the story because for a soldier or sailor there's no greater disgrace than wearing unearned valor awards. Combat ribbons -- awards for which so many brave warriors have bled -- are the ultimate status symbol to warriors. They bring a special recognition and respect.

And with military leaders, from corporal to four-star rank, there's a larger issue: integrity. The very bedrock of any military organization is honor, doing the hard right over the easy wrong and standing tall in everything that's done.

Midshipmen at Annapolis, cadets at West Point, the Air Force Academy, all the ROTCs and other officer-producing schools in the land are taught the code, "I will not lie, cheat or steal nor tolerate anyone who does."

These sacred rules don't only apply to cadets, NCOs or junior grade officers, but to every leader who wears the uniform, from cadet to general, midshipmen to admiral.

While Kirk isn't wearing unearned ribbons, he has time and time again claimed the unearned glory of a veteran of two wars and the exalted status of a combat veteran of another.

You might get the name of an award wrong, but it's unlikely he forgot he wasn't in combat.

13 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey I owe you an apology, I read your first post about this on Dkos and I did not think it was much. You have proved me wrong and I appreciate your persistence in following this story. So I am sorry I doubted you.

All due respect but if Zumwalt could think that Boorda deserved the "V" one could understand how a mistake could be made. I also find it interesting that Hackworth also seemed to be claiming for a while the Ranger tab and a DFC that was not earned. Interesting that one would be on a crusade against people that might be claiming unearned medals before cleaning their own house. Maybe Hackworth, among others, was a bit upset about some of Boorda's actions and policies?

Please don't take this to indicate that one should claim and wear awards, medals, wings that are not earned or awarded but I think at times honest mistakes can be made.

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